Tokyo · the Michinoku Coastal Trail · the Izu Peninsula · October 2026
Day Five
The northern trailhead, the black-tailed gulls, and the first night in a minshuku.
Kabushima Shrine to the Tanesashi Coast · trail day two · Wednesday 7 October 2026
12.44pm. Five on the bench above the sea. Sent by Graham, from behind the camera.
Forty photographs from three phones, and the first day the trail shows up in the log. Kim’s 9.51 is the banner — Welcome to the Michinoku Coastal Trail — and her 9.52 is six of them under it with packs on. A shrine on an island of birds, a stone that says how high the water came in 2011, a lunch stop on a bench above the Pacific, a lawn that runs to the edge of the sea, and by 3.37 a tatami room with the futons laid out. Dinner at 6.03 was a tray of small dishes.
Kim’s 9.51 is the banner itself, white on white, Japanese above and English below. Her 9.52 is the line-up beneath it: six with packs, caps and poles, a building with a tiled roof behind. Her 9.57 is a shark — a great white in fibreglass with its mouth open on a plinth by the road — and her 10.05 the harbour, a white fishing boat at the wall and a shrine on the hill above it. At 10.12 the red torii: a flight of steps up between stone lanterns, the gate at the top, and the six of them climbing. Her 10.14 is the shrine hall, her 10.16 a bronze octopus on a pedestal, her 10.21 a tall stone column with one of them beside it, and her 10.23 a carved figure with a fish under its arm.
John’s three at 10.26 are the lanterns along the fence at the top of the steps, the sea beyond, and a plaque on a post: 2011.3.11, a blue wave, and a line at 5.3 metres — the height the water reached here. Kim’s 10.27 is a manhole cover in colour, a fish and a bird in blue and gold. Her 11.03 is the group on a sea wall below a grey timber house, one of the women with her arms out. John’s 11.06 is the coast from there — rocks, surf, a long headland — and Kim’s 11.12 a stack of black rock with a pine on top and the swell breaking white around it. Graham’s two at 11.22 are one of the women at a stone wall with square windows, the sea behind her, and Kim’s 11.46 the same wall from along the path, a ruin in the grass.
Nobody wrote a line with Wednesday’s photographs. Graham filed his eight as places; the rest came in as they were taken. The log has added nothing.
John’s 12.01 is a signpost in the grass with rocks and the sea behind it. Graham’s 12.09 and 12.12 are a wide, flat beach under cloud, a single line of footprints going out across it, and his 12.36 the rocks at the end of it with surf coming in. Kim’s 12.39 is a working harbour, boats on the slip. Graham’s 12.44 is the bench: five in a row on a timber seat above the sea, caps on, Graham behind the camera, and Kim’s 12.44 the same bench from the other side. Her 12.46 is two of the men on a path between a fence and the pines, and Graham’s 12.51 and Kim’s 12.51 the signpost at a cove — 100 m to a harbour, 400 m to a beach — with one of them beside it. Kim’s 12.53 is a rock island offshore, her 12.55 a bench in the trees, her 1.02 one of the women on the path with poles, and her 1.35 the coast again from the grass. Graham’s 2.02 is the last of the sea for the day: rocks, weed, and the swell.
Kim’s 3.37 is the room: tatami, a low table, two futons laid out in pink, and one of the men standing at the window. Her 4.30 is the building from the lane, green-walled, two storeys. At 6.03 the dining room — one of the men at the table with chopsticks, a bottle of beer — and the tray itself: grilled fish, pickles, a small bowl of greens, rice, miso, sashimi on a lacquered plate. Her 6.04 is the whole table, eight of them down both sides, the tatami room lit yellow.
Virginia’s 10.30 is two of the women on the beach below the shrine on its rock, caps and packs, the surf behind; her 11.52 a ten-second clip of the shore. The 1.00 is the path along the cliff under the pines with a signboard, the 2.29 a green two-storey minshuku with its name across the front, the 2.41 a model boat in a glass case. At 3.29 the suitcases lined up in the hall, at 3.31 two pairs of slippers on the tatami, and at 3.56 the poster on the wall: two walkers on a red cliff at sunset, Michinoku Coastal Trail — try walking in Tohoku.
Six packs under one banner, and a line on a post at 5.3 metres.